


Run Rule

by harper_m



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-20
Updated: 2012-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-12 12:46:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harper_m/pseuds/harper_m
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College AU. Cara needs to pass calculus if she's going to move up to Division I softball. Kahlan wants to win her ex-boyfriend Richard back from Denna, but needs to learn how to be more dominant if she's going to succeed. It seems like a mutually beneficial exchange of services.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Run Rule

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to lettersandsodas for offering suggestions on an early version of this story. Don't blame her for its utter ridiculousness. That's all me.

Cara tracked down Kahlan Amnell with unwavering focus, much the same way she would a skied fly ball. “I want to hire you.”

Kahlan nearly spilled her books. What was even more disconcerting than having the silent, angry blonde who spent most of her time glaring at nothing in particular from the corner of the classroom approach her was that the silent, angry blonde looked angry about doing it.

“I’m sorry?”

Cara reached down and straightened up a notebook that was in danger of sliding off of the table, then tapped its cover. “You’re good at this.”

Kahlan looked down and back up, but no answer presented itself. “Before I get either the wrong or the right impression about what, exactly, you’re talking about, could you please clarify?”

She was pretty, Cara noted idly, in a wholesome sort of way. “Calculus. You’re good at it.”

“And you want to hire me?”

Finally. Progress. “Yes.”

“To do what?”

She had a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Cara imagined she liked things like kittens, picnics, rainbows, and frolicking through wildflowers. “I need to pass this class.”

“And you want to hire me to…”

“Make sure I do.”

“In what way?”

Her eyes weren’t particularly wholesome, Cara noted, pleased. At the moment, they were decidedly suspicious. “You have heard of tutoring, haven’t you?”

Kahlan relaxed infinitesimally. “Oh, tutoring.” Her eyes narrowed. “I thought you were proposing something a little less ethical.”

“Like what?”

“Like cheating.”

Cara blinked at her. “Why would you think that?”

Kahlan started stuffing books into her backpack, visibly flustered. “You were being deliberately ambiguous about just what sort of thing you wanted to hire me to do.”

“If you’re up for something more direct…”

Kahlan scowled and zipped her backpack decisively. “I’m not.”

Unfazed, Cara shrugged. “So, tutoring.”

“There are people who tutor professionally.” Kahlan pulled her backpack onto her shoulders and wrapped her hands around the straps. It was disconcerting, the way Cara stared at her with an air of predatory calm. “I suggest you get in touch with one of them.”

“You make the highest grades in class.”

Kahlan’s look of suspicion returned. “How do you know that?”

“I asked the professor for a recommendation.” Cara arched a brow. “You’re incredibly paranoid, did you know that?”

“Well, you don’t exactly inspire confidence. You know, maybe if you spent more time paying attention in class instead of looking as if taking notes was the equivalent of submitting to torture, you wouldn’t need a tutor.”

Cara crossed her arms over her chest. It made Kahlan feel oddly like a recalcitrant child. “Will you do it or not?”

“I’m not sure I have the time.”

“I really need to pass this class,” Cara said, and looked as if doing so pained her deeply. “If I don’t pass this class, I’m never going to get out of here. I’ll be put on probation, lose my eligibility, and probably end up working as a stripper somewhere. Do you really want to be responsible for that?”

That caught Kahlan’s attention. She looked up guardedly, a hint of menace in her voice. “Eligibility?”

“I play softball.”

It seemed like such an innocent statement, but anger flared in Kahlan’s eyes. “Is this some kind of joke? Did Denna put you up to this?”

“Denna?” Cara repeated, confused.

Kahlan scowled. “Because I get it, okay. She doesn’t have to keep flaunting it.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Cara said, backing away slowly. She didn’t understand and certainly didn’t trust the furious glint in Kahlan’s eyes. “Just think it over and let me know next class.”

“Let you know what?”

“If you’ll tutor me.”

“So this isn’t a joke?”

Cara shook her head. “Are you always this weird?”

“Do you need my help or not?” Kahlan asked sharply.

This, Cara thought, is why she didn’t ask people for things.

******

The chick from her calculus class had issues, but she’d aced their first exam. Cara could deal with issues. Every girl she’d ever dated had issues, and her interest in this one was purely professional. She could have all of the issues she wanted so long as she explained fucking exponential functions in a way Cara could understand. Not that Cara would kick her out of bed if it came to that. She was kind of hot, in a good girl, nerdy kind of way, with her little glasses and her messy ponytail. Cara had never bagged an academic, but she’d heard those shy, introverted types were usually straight up freak when you got them in the sack.

For once, though, indulging her libido was second on the list behind squeaking out a C in Intro to Calculus. Take it at JuCo, she’d been told. It’ll be easier. If this was easier, then maybe Coach had been right. Maybe she was a risky bet.

The ball hit her glove with a pop and she turned and threw, the action burned into memory. This, she didn’t need to think about. Catch, throw. Catch, throw. Need her to chase a long ball up the wall? That, she could do. A diving catch in the gap? No problem. Pass calculus? That was a different matter entirely.

She squinted into the distance, where Denna was warming up in the bullpen. What did Kahlan have against her? She had a decent riseball and an adequate fastball, and maybe she pranced around like she was team princess, but she was a pitcher. They did that kind of thing. Cara had always found it more amusing than anything else, the way she stroked the tail of her long braid between pitches like some sort of talisman; the way she painted her fingernails crimson to match their school colors; the way she meticulously applied make-up before every practice. They weren’t on tv – were never going to be on tv – so Cara didn’t know why she cared so much. Maybe it would have made sense if she was going to be on close-up on ESPN 3 for a couple of hours or if she was, somehow, going to end up the focus of a human interest story aired as halftime filler during some football game.

Maybe it was for the benefit of her whipped puppy boyfriend, the one watching adoringly from the stands at every practice. Denna had him on a leash so tight that Cara was surprised he didn’t pass out from a lack of oxygen. Not that it would have mattered, she supposed; he didn’t seem particularly bright. Still, it might be nice to have someone that slavishly devoted on hand. After practice, Denna always pranced off to the locker rooms, leaving her boy to collect and carry her things. Cara could certainly carry her own bat bag, but she supposed there was something to be said about handing it off, taking a kiss in return for her thrilling display of athletic prowess, and hitting the showers.

She’d have that when she got up to Gainesville. If CFCC was going to be a stop on the way and not her final destination, that meant no drama and no distractions. Play ball, pass calculus, and keep her head down. Not that there was anything to do in this hick town anyway if you weren’t into country western line-dancing or the PTA. She’d spent so much time in the gym out of sheer boredom that she was in danger of dropping down from lead-off to a power hitter spot, which was unacceptable. She’d always preferred table-setting to clean-up. Brute force had its place, but finesse required cunning.

Gainesville. That’s where she was going, so Kahlan Amnell had better recognize her part in the game and play it.

******

It was no less disconcerting to have Cara Mason bearing down on her for a second time than it had been the first. She’d thought about leaving class early, or pretending like she was engrossed in deep discussion with the girl sitting next to her, but she couldn’t. She’d promised Cara an answer – well, she hadn’t actually promised her, but the undercurrent was there – and she was going to give it. Face to face, because she absolutely was not even the tiniest bit afraid of a girl half a head shorter than she was.

“I can’t help you,” she said, not even giving Cara a chance to ask. “I have too much going on right now.”

Cara’s brow wrinkled, with the same look of confusion she might have if a zoo animal sidled up to the edge of its enclosure and struck up a conversation.

“I’m prepared to pay you.”

“There are plenty of other people in class who would make perfectly decent tutors.”

“I don’t want perfectly decent. I want the best, and the best is you.”

Kahlan frowned at Cara’s persistence. “I have to work. I have my own classes.”

“I’ll work around your schedule. I’ll come to you.”

“I could be a horrible tutor. You don’t know.”

Cara tried doing calculations in her head, but it’d never been her strong point. “I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

Kahlan turned sharply to find Cara only a foot away, surprising them both. “Why do you care so much?”

“I want out of here,” Cara snapped, taking a step closer to Kahlan, who would have stepped back had she not been trapped by the table. “I have one year to prove myself. I have one year to prove that I can work hard, and that I’m not going to fail. Coach said that he can’t take a risk on signing me if I’m going to flunk out before the season even starts. He’s not going to take the risk that he wastes the scholarship on someone who can’t cut it.”

“What scholarship?”

A hint of insecurity flitted across Cara’s face. “You think I want to be starting left-field for the CFCC Trojans? I’m supposed to be at Florida. That’s where I belong. I just have to prove I can make the grades and there’s a place there, waiting on me.” Cara paused, flustered, color high on her cheeks. “I’m not stupid.”

She wasn’t. There’d just always been other things. Distractions.

“I’m not stupid,” she said again, looking away, hands jammed deep in her pockets. “Are you going to help me or not?”

Kahlan shifted, feeling herself weaken. She didn’t know Cara all that well, but she had the feeling that if she told her that she looked fragile and vulnerable and that it made Kahlan want to pull her into a hug and make things all better, it would not be taken well. Cara didn’t look like the kind of girl who accepted either hugs or pity, but Kahlan had always had a soft spot for people who had ambitions and weren’t afraid to work for them. And anyway, hands stuffed defensively deep in her pockets, Cara looked just like an angry, aloof kitten who hissed and spit and did everything possible to set herself apart but secretly wanted to be adopted just as badly as everyone else. Kahlan had a soft spot for that, too, or else she wouldn’t be wrapped around the paw of the high-maintenance headache otherwise known as Baron von Furpants.

“I’ll help you,” she said gently, then realized it was probably the wrong tact to take. Baron von Furpants had needed time, space, and respect. Cara probably would too. “Do you want to get started this weekend?”

Cara grimaced. Calculus on the weekend? Then again, it wasn’t really like she had anything better to do.

“Okay,” she said with a shrug. “Whenever.”

Kahlan scribbled down her phone number and address. “I get off work at 10:00.”

******

Cara was glad no one she knew could see her, with her backpack slung over her shoulder, about to study calculus at 10:30 on a Saturday night. She was trying to pretend it wasn’t mortifying, but she wasn’t sure it was working.

At her knock, the apartment door swung open and Kahlan gave her a tired smile. “Come in,” she said, stepping aside, and Cara ducked inside as if she were trying to dodge surveillance. “I was just finishing up dinner.”

It was a moderately nice little two-bedroom, decorated with the kind of mismatched furniture that came from taking whatever was given freely or available cheaply. Take-out Chinese was spread across the coffee table, almost completely consumed.

“Let me just change,” Kahlan said, prompting Cara to look at her. She was wearing black pants and a white button down, untucked and unbuttoned to reveal the white undershirt underneath, and her hair was pulled back in a loose bun. It wasn’t an entirely bad look on her.

“What do you do?” Cara asked, with a nod to her outfit.

Kahlan looked down, as if she needed to be reminded. “Hmm? Oh, I work at the 10th Street Bar and Grill.”

Cara knew the place. Pretentious, like they weren’t a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

She wasn’t a snooper, but with Kahlan in the back changing clothes, there was nothing to do other than idly inspect the various knick-knacks and photographs lining the shelves of the tv stand. Kahlan smiling and waving her high school diploma, one arm wrapped around a slightly older girl. Kahlan and the same girl sitting on the curb at what looked like an amusement park, each grinning behind melting ice cream cones. Kahlan with her arms around the waist of…

The hell? Was that Denna’s boyfriend?

“So did you…” At the sight of Cara scowling down at a framed photograph that Kahlan knew well, her voice trailed off. “That’s none of your business.”

Cara looked up at her, one eyebrow arched. “You and the puppy dog?”

Kahlan snatched the frame from Cara’s hand.

“Is this why you asked me about Denna?”

A blush burned Kahlan’s cheeks. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to her. Or him, for that matter.”

“So the two of you…” Cara waggled her finger in a vague yet still somehow clearly understandable motion.

“We were together for three years in high school, but once he met Denna…” Kahlan felt her embarrassment slide into anger. “I suppose I wasn’t exciting enough for him anymore.”

A stammer, a guilty look, and as suddenly as that, a three-year relationship she’d thought was going well was over.

“You shouldn’t take it personally,” Cara said with a shrug. “If he’s into what she’s offering, there’s not much you can do about that.”

Kahlan looked up at Cara, eyes blazing.

“Don’t tell me you’re still into him?” Cara nearly laughed. “You want to get back together with the puppy dog?”

“Why do you keep calling him that?”

“Look, I don’t know Denna well, but I hear the gossip. A hundred bucks says that when they’re alone, he calls her Mistress.”

Her voice a mixture of horrified and intrigued, Kahlan sputtered, “You mean she… They…”

Cara wasn’t quite sure how to put things without upsetting Kahlan’s apparently delicate sensibilities, but she made an attempt at tactful. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she puts a collar on him and leads him around the house on his hands and knees in a pair of panties. I’m saying that your boy is clearly attracted to dominant personalities, and from what I hear, Denna certainly has one.”

“But we never… He never…”

“Exactly.”

Kahlan somehow blushed an even deeper red. Why hadn’t he told her? If that’s what he wanted, she could have tried to find some way fulfill those particular needs. She’d never thought about it, hadn’t even considered the possibility, but there had to be some kind of compromise. They’d been in love, or at least she’d thought they had been, but it hadn’t been enough. Or, rather, she hadn’t been enough. Had he been ashamed, or was it something more? Had it been her? Had he thought she wouldn’t be able to handle it?

“So unless you’re going to find a tutor to teach you how to be a dominatrix,” Cara continued, “you should probably just go ahead and write that one off.”

Cara expected that to be the end of it, but instead of the words bringing Kahlan back to reality, she seemed more intrigued than resigned.

If that had been the problem, Kahlan thought, then perhaps it was fixable. Maybe she could bring the mountain to Mohammad, so to speak. Anything could be learned. “Is that possible? Are there people who would teach me how to…” She trailed off, shrugging suggestively.

Cara nearly choked.

“I’m being serious.”

Since her clearly very vanilla math tutor had just declared an interest in learning how to be a dominatrix, Cara decided the best thing to do was ignore it.

“We should study.”

Kahlan put the photo down, looking at the far wall distractedly. “I bet I could find a tutorial online.”

She was never going to get to Gainesville at this rate. Drastic times, drastic measures.

“Fine,” Cara said, dropping her backpack onto the floor and rolling her shoulders. “I’ll do it. You teach me how to do calculus and I’ll teach you the things you need to know to lure the puppy dog back.”

The speed at which Kahlan’s eyes snapped back to her face was gratifying. “You’ll what?”

“I’ll teach you the things you’ll need to know to get your submissive little boyfriend back,” Cara repeated, feeling oddly pleased with her solution the more it sat with her, “and you help me pass calculus.”

Kahlan gaped at her. “Are you honestly proposing that I exchange tutoring services with you for…” she paused, swallowing hard, “lessons in sexual dominance?”

Cara hadn’t really worked out the details, but it seemed like an adequate summation. “Sounds fair to me. Do we have a deal?”

It was ridiculous, Kahlan thought. She barely knew Cara, and regardless, it wasn’t really as if she wanted anyone else to witness what she was sure was going to be a horribly embarrassing learning curve. She could go online – she’d be shocked if there wasn’t a website devoted to this very thing. She could…

Cara was watching her impassively, as if she didn’t care either way. It was oddly reassuring.

Reading a website was one thing. Actually managing to be remotely credible was another, so even though she was blushing so hard the tips of her ears were burning, Kahlan gave a tentative nod.

******

Nearly two hours later, Cara had taken about as much as she could. There were derivatives, formulas, functions, and Kahlan waving her hands and talking animatedly about y’s relationship with x, and it’d all started turning into a blur.

“My turn,” she said finally, decisively, cutting through Kahlan’s attempt to explain just what, exactly, natural logarithms happened to be.

“…so the inverse function…” With widening eyes, Kahlan trailed off. “Your turn?”

“I’ve had enough of this,” Cara said, pushing to her feet and glaring down at the papers spread across Kahlan’s coffee table. “Come on. Stand up.”

Kahlan did so, but with trepidation. She’d expected a little more subtlety, perhaps, or a grace period in which to come to her senses. What she hadn’t expected was Cara’s workman-like approach to her training in sexual deviancy.

“Lesson one,” Cara said, pulling Kahlan out into the center of the room, and circling her slowly, “appearances.” Kahlan had changed out of her server’s uniform into a pair of shorts that had once been sweatpants and a decently snug tee-shirt with a picture of Frankenberry on it. “Luckily for you, it’s not in the clothes. The clothes are extra. They’re window dressing. It’s in the face, the posture, and the manner.”

It was hard not to squirm under that kind of intense focus, but Kahlan tried her best. She wasn’t even a minute into her first lesson and already she felt even more ridiculous than she’d anticipated.

“Back straight,” Cara said, running her hand up along Kahlan’s spine. Out of reflex, Kahlan stiffened, and Cara appeared in front of her with a smile. “That’s better. Shoulders back. Pretend there’s an invisible cord connected to the top of your head, constantly pulling upward. That’s it.”

Kahlan was dubious. “That’s the way to win Richard back? By pretending I’m being suspended by an invisible cord?”

Cara gave her an arch look. “Did I question you when you were explaining…” she paused, searching for something in the vicinity of correctness, “functions?”

“No, but maybe you should have. Intellectual curiosity is a good thing.”

“Do you want to learn or not?” Cara gave her a moment, then continued. “Now, your jaw. Think about how much you hate Denna. Think about how mad you are at Richard for leaving you for her. I want to see all of that right here.” Cara tapped just below each of Kahlan’s ears. “Don’t be afraid to show him you’re displeased. Make him want to make it up to you.”

This instruction, at least, was easy to follow. All she had to do was imagine Denna’s smirking face and her jaw clenched tight.

“That’s good. I can see it in your eyes too, which is important. But the rest of you…” Cara gave a small sigh. “You’re not marching into battle. You’re too stiff.”

Kahlan turned her angry, haughty expression down on Cara, who had to admit it was fairly effective. “How exactly am I supposed to dangle from an invisible cord and be relaxed at the same time?”

“Unclench your fists.” Cara put her hands on Kahlan’s shoulders and slid them down slowly, as if she was trying to ease grace into them. “You want to be self-assured and confident, not combative.”

“I feel stupid.”

“We’ll work on how you feel later.” Cara looked her over with consideration. “I think that’s all for lesson one. Practice this. I want to see you like this in class on Tuesday. The next time I talk to you, I want you look at me like I need to hit my knees and beg you for forgiveness.”

Doubt flitted across Kahlan’s features. Engaging in this embarrassing exercise in her own home was one thing, but outside of it? “I’m not sure I can do this in public.”

“If you want this to work, you’re going to have to learn how.” Cara shrugged. “The puppy dog seems like an all day, every day kind of boy.”

Kahlan scowled. “I wish you’d stop calling him that.”

Cara took in the expression with a pleased smile. “Good job,” she said, giving Kahlan an encouraging slap to the upper arm. “Just like that.”

******

She still wasn’t good with numbers, but if Cara had to guess, she’d say she probably understood 10% more of the lecture than usual. After, she stayed in her seat, watching with amusement as Kahlan gathered her things carefully. Cara could almost read her thoughts – back straight, invisible string, not too stiff, glare. Still, her paint-by-numbers approach was surprisingly effective, because when Kahlan turned to look at her, Cara felt herself straightening in response.

“Not bad,” Cara said, her voice more throaty than she’d expected. “Have you been practicing?”

Kahlan’s cheeks turned pink and she nodded.

“It’s a good idea,” Cara said encouragingly, feeling an odd sense of pride. “Maybe we should set up a training plan for you. It’s not as if I don’t practice all of the time.”

Kahlan felt a jolt of surprise. “You practice this, too?”

Cara expected her tone to be mocking and was surprised when it wasn’t. Instead, unexpectedly, she felt herself give a tentative half-smile. “No. Softball.”

“Oh, right. Of course.”

Awkwardness descended with unsettling suddenness.

“So,” Cara said, returning to her default, “calculus?”

Kahlan nodded sharply. Even with the blush, the decisive movement was surprisingly effective. Maybe, Cara mused, it was the height. “I’m off today. Do you want to come over this afternoon?”

“I can’t. I have practice.” After a moment of silence, Cara added, “Softball.”

Cara had never considered herself the kind of person who would ever describe something as adorable and not mean it sarcastically, but there was something about the way Kahlan blushed a slightly deeper shade of pink that broke through that particular barrier.

******

It was slightly less mortifying to knock on Kahlan’s door later that evening.

“Here,” she said, shoving a smoothie into Kahlan’s hand as soon as the door opened. “I hope you like strawberry banana.”

Kahlan looked almost shell shocked by the abrupt greeting. “Thanks,” she said, taking a step back as Cara pushed her way inside. Watching as Cara dropped her backpack to the floor, kicked off her flip-flops, and dropped down onto the couch, she gave a wary smile. “Why don’t you make yourself at home?”

“I had a couple of hours before practice,” Cara replied, and Kahlan couldn’t tell if she hadn’t noticed or was simply unfazed by the sarcasm. “I tried to do the homework.”

“And?”

Cara frowned. “And it didn’t go well.”

Kahlan saw Baron von Furpants at the same moment Cara did, and froze. She’d locked him in her room the first time Cara had visited – he was notoriously bad with new people – but this time, she’d forgotten.

“Hey, cat,” Cara said, sucking hard at her smoothie. She patted her thigh twice as she leaned back into the cushions, and Kahlan cringed. Baron von Furpants did not take kindly to being summoned, as Richard had quickly learned. He’d rarely managed to leave her house without at least one scratch, no matter what he did to try and buy the cat’s love. Treats, toys, catnip – nothing had been enough to meet Baron von Furpant’s high standards.

So, she watched in amazement as Baron von Furpants tilted his head to the side, surveyed Cara for a moment, then pranced over to her and delicately dropped down into her lap.

“He’s cute,” Cara said, rubbing behind his ears.

If his purr was any assessment, Baron von Furpants – son of a show Russian Blue who had been besmirched by a seductive tabby – seemed pleased by the assessment. Kahlan debated telling Cara that most people who tried that particular move often ended up in need of bandages, but they looked so peaceful together that she decided not to upset things.

“You had softball practice today?” she asked instead, watching in amazement as Baron von Furpants bared his neck for petting.

“Five days a week,” Cara said, laying aside her smoothie to use both hands. “You should come sometimes. The little… your friend Richard comes to every one of them.”

“Why would I want to?” Kahlan asked sourly, quite sure that the last thing she wanted to do was watch Richard fawn over Denna.

Cara glanced up from where she was vigorously rubbing the top of Baron von Furpants’ head. “Make him jealous.”

“Of what?”

“Me. Show him you’ve moved on.”

Kahlan looked at her dubiously. “To you? How exactly is that supposed to make him jealous? He’ll just think I’m gay now.”

“Not everybody checks a box. He’ll think you’re more adventurous than he’d thought.”

“We’re not together.”

Cara looked up at her as if she was mildly stupid. Baron von Furpants copied the move, and Kahlan glared at them both. Traitor, she thought, resolving to “forget” Baron von Furpants’ nightly treat for at least a day. “I know that,” Cara said. “It’s called pretending. You’ll both sit in the stands, watching. Maybe after a week or so, he’ll venture over and you’ll start talking. ‘What are you doing here?’, he’ll ask, and you’ll point to me and say, ‘You see that hot piece of ass out in left field? That’s my bitch.’”

“It doesn’t really sound like something I’d say.”

Cara shrugged. “You’re learning new skills. Just make him think you’ve moved on to a decidedly better model and he’ll want you back, especially if he thinks you can make him beg like the dirty boy he is.”

“Really, it’s just not me.”

“Fine. It was just a suggestion.” Cara looked down at the cat stretched out in her lap, clearly moving on. “What’s his name, anyway?”

“Baron von Furpants.”

Cara blinked. “Yeah, okay. I’m going to call him Baron. I’m surprised he doesn’t kill you in your sleep for naming him that.”

“He loves it. Don’t you, Baron von Furpants?”

Said Baron declined response.

Kahlan sighed. “Let’s see your homework.”

“Would you mind?” Cara asked apologetically, tilting her chin at her abandoned backpack. “I don’t want to disturb him.”

Absolutely a traitor, Kahlan thought bitterly, glaring at Baron von Furpants where he was curled up sleeping in Cara’s lap.

******

The transition from normality to the alternate dimension Kahlan had brought upon herself – the one where she pretended like it was absolutely okay for a girl she barely knew and with whom she’d bartered tutoring services for lessons of a decidedly more debauched nature to manhandle her in the name of winning back her apparently submissive ex-boyfriend – was unsettlingly abrupt.

“I’m going to teach you how to push me around,” Cara said, calculus finally, thankfully, behind them. “Literally. Be rough with me. Make me go where you want me to go.”

Kahlan’s expression was a mixture of horror and bafflement, and Cara realized she was going to have to be more explicit with her instructions.

“I’ll show you how,” she said, trying not to sigh. “Come here.”

Although she looked unsure, Kahlan did as requested. Cara took hold of her shoulders, gently moved her into position, and waited until she was sure she had Kahlan’s full attention.

“Almost any surface will work,” she said, trying not to smile at the way Kahlan was frowning down at her in concentration. “The wall, the bed, a desk, the couch, a table – it’s pretty versatile. For now, we’re going to use the wall.”

Kahlan nodded, as if she was filing the information away.

“Hands to the shoulders,” Cara said, her actions mirroring her words, “and then…”

She gave a sharp shove. Kahlan hit the wall with a gasp and looked down at Cara in surprise. Without hesitation, Cara followed the move, trapping Kahlan against the wall with her body. She positioned a foot between Kahlan’s, prepared to subdue any resulting struggle, but none came.

“You can also,” she added, wrapping her hands around Kahlan’s wrists, bringing them up to shoulder height, and pinning them to the wall, “do this if you want to make sure there’s no touching until you allow it.”

“Okay,” Kahlan said, or rather, breathed, failing at sounding unaffected. She was panting; it made her chest heave in a way Cara quite appreciated.

“There are variations,” Cara said, stepping back. She waited until Kahlan followed before putting a hand to her sternum and pressing her back against the wall. She let go, waited until Kahlan stepped forward once more, and then put her hands on Kahlan’s hips and pushed again. “You should do whatever comes naturally. You can even,” she added, using gentle pressure on Kahlan’s shoulders to turn her around so that she was facing the wall, “do it this way. Just make sure you don’t, I don’t know, break his nose.”

Kahlan’s reply was muffled. “That makes sense.”

As soon as she let her go and Kahlan stepped back, Cara took her place, waiting expectantly. “It’s your turn. Make sure you put some force into it. You don’t want to give me a concussion, but half-assing it is not acceptable.”

She was almost certain that Kahlan was muttering ‘not acceptable’ under her breath as she brought her hands to Cara’s shoulders, frowned, and gave her a nicely forceful push.

“Not bad,” she said, her voice more breathless than she’d like, as Kahlan stepped close to pin her to the wall. “Why don’t you try it again?”

Kahlan nodded decisively and stepped back, a look of intense concentration on her face. This was just like anything else she’d absorbed over the years. All she had to do was pay attention to the details, store away the information, build on what she’d learned, and be able to apply her new skills when called upon. It was academic in its own way, she was beginning to understand. The point wasn’t simply to go through a series of motions. It was to read the dynamics of the moment and analyze her partner’s desires so that she could triangulate the two into action designed to capitalize on both. She liked the extrapolation and application of knowledge, which was all, she assured herself, this was. It was simply more hands-on than she was accustomed to.

If she had to guess what Cara wanted, it would be to be surprised. As best Kahlan could tell, Cara spent the majority of her time wading through boredom, gently disappointed that nothing in life managed to subvert her expectations, and suddenly, Kahlan wanted quite badly find a way to do that. Instinctively, she knew she couldn’t simply repeat what she’d just been shown. She had to build upon it in a way Cara wasn’t expecting. She had to be a better student than Cara thought her capable of being.

She put her hands on Cara’s shoulders again, but instead of pushing, she let them slide down Cara’s arms. Confused, Cara let herself be directed as Kahlan drew her hands up, twined their fingers together, and used the leverage she gained to pin Cara to the wall.

“Very nice,” Cara said, pushing back against Kahlan’s hold, drawn in by Kahlan’s resulting smirk. Cara was surprised to find she couldn’t break Kahlan’s grasp, but not entirely surprised by the realization that she was aroused. It was, she decided, to be expected. “You’re, uh, you’re taller than me, so once you have me here, you might want to make sure I’m looking at you. You could tilt my chin up or pull my hair…” She was unable to stifle a gasp as Kahlan immediately took the instruction, freeing one wrist to bury her hand in Cara’s hair and pull hard. “Yeah, just like that.”

Kahlan was inordinately pleased with herself.

Cara’s free hand moved to the small of Kahlan’s back. “I don’t know if this works for guys like it works for girls,” she said, pulling Kahlan’s hips hard toward her own, “but I know girls seem to like it.”

Quite unexpectedly, Kahlan’s academic haze shattered, and she echoed Cara’s gasp with one of her own. The sudden move, the strength behind it, engendered within her a sensation she absolutely hadn’t anticipated. She found herself plastered to Cara, a last minute move to the side ensuring their cheeks slid past one another instead of their foreheads crashing together, uncomfortably aware that she’d actually enjoyed that.

She stayed that way for a second, panting into Cara’s ear, before slowly disentangling them.

“Right,” Kahlan said, blushing furiously. Enjoyment was absolutely not on the syllabus. “I could see how that could be, uh…” She trailed off and took another step backwards.

Unexpectedly shaken herself, Cara nodded. “It really all depends on what the other person’s into. There are certain kinds of surfaces that are really better for bending someone over, but that probably works best if they like getting…” Realizing where her train of thought was heading, Cara stopped talking abruptly. “We can,” she paused, licking suddenly dry lips, “we can work on that one another day.”

Kahlan nodded silently.

“So, do you want to try something else, or…”

“No, I think we’re good for today,” Kahlan said, voice tight and words oddly formal. “That was very useful and I learned quite a lot. It was…”

Hot, Cara supplied mentally.

“Edifying,” Kahlan finished.

That too, Cara supposed.

******

When Kahlan entered the classroom to see Cara sitting in the chair beside the one she usually occupied, she stopped dead in her tracks. The student behind her didn’t notice, which is how she entered the room in a stumble, nearly dropping her coffee.

Cara merely watched, one brow arched, as Kahlan debated what to do. She scanned the room; there were plenty of seats open. She could sit so far away from Cara that it would almost be like they were in different rooms. She could turn around and leave. She could drop the class.

She was overreacting.

Smiling stiffly, she made her way to her usual seat and spent the next minute digging through her backpack as if excavating an archeological dig.

“I prefer it black,” Cara said, and Kahlan turned just in time to see her take another sip of Kahlan’s coffee. “Do you run? I was thinking I’d get a run in this afternoon.”

Kahlan scowled and snatched back her coffee cup. “I have work.”

“We can study after,” Cara said, as if it were a foregone conclusion. “Listen, just because you felt a little, you know, after last time, doesn’t mean things have to be weird.”

Kahlan stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said frostily.

“I’m not under any assumptions that it means anything. It’s like a, what do you call it? Occupational hazard.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Cara’s hand settled high on her upper thigh, and Kahlan squirmed in a way that wasn’t entirely about getting away.

“I’m pretty sure I do,” she said, looked down pointedly to where Kahlan’s thigh was quivering under her touch, and removed her hand. “I’m telling you not to get all worked up over it.”

“This is not the time or place…”

“Does 8:00 work for you?”

Kahlan’s reply was cut off by the arrival of their instructor, though her glare was delivered with full force.

Later, as they gathered their books, she muttered, “I get off at 9:00.”

******

Cara was sitting outside of her apartment when she arrived, back to the door and knees bent.

“Sorry,” Kahlan apologized. “We had a late rush.”

Cara stood slowly. She stretched up on her tiptoes, arms overhead, then arched her back to work out the stiffness that had settled in her joints as she’d waited. Kahlan tried desperately not to notice. “No problem.”

Baron von Furpants met them at the door and immediately engaged himself in twining around Cara’s shins. Kahlan decided that she’d never known a more duplicitous cat.

“Let me change. Try not to steal my cat away from me while I’m gone.”

By the time she returned to the living room, Baron von Furpants was stretched along Cara’s chest, his head tucked against her neck. “Are we going to study or not?” she asked tersely. It was ridiculous to be jealous of someone for befriending her cat, she knew, but she couldn’t help feeling betrayed.

Cara’s expression was just as disgruntled as Baron von Furpants’ when Kahlan lifted him up and deposited him on the floor.

“He’d just gotten comfortable.”

“He’ll recover.” Kahlan pulled out her book and flipped it open. “So, derivatives. How much did you understand about today’s class?”

“I wrote down the word polynomial. I may have misspelled it.”

Kahlan had been surprised to learn that, despite her earlier reservations, she actually enjoyed the teaching part of tutoring. As self-defeating as it was for their joint cause, she wasn’t at all disappointed that Cara hadn’t picked up most of the lecture. “You brought your calculator, right?”

Cara sighed. “How could I forget it?”

******

Cara wasn’t sure what it meant that Kahlan apparently knew her well enough after only a few days to know when she was nearing her limit.

“That’s enough for tonight,” Kahlan said, closing her book and leaning back tiredly.

They’d established a routine, Cara realized, as she stood.

“Where are you going?” Kahlan asked from the floor.

“Your bedroom.”

“Not tonight,” Kahlan said, unable to look in Cara’s direction. Instead, she busied herself with aligning her notebook on top of her textbook with precision. “I’m too tired.”

Cara shrugged. “Okay. Guess I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

Kahlan was silent for a long moment. “That’s it? You’re not going to insist?”

Already in the midst of packing up her things, Cara paused to look over at Kahlan in bemusement. “That’s not really my thing. If you’re not interested, you’re not interested.”

“It’s not that I’m not interested,” Kahlan said, before quickly amending. “I didn’t mean interested like interested. We still have a deal. I still want to learn.”

“So we’ll pick up later, when you’re not tired. We’re not working off of a time table.”

Kahlan looked at her quizzically, suddenly struck by the breadth of the task in front of them. She didn’t understand much about the world Cara was showing her, but she presumed that it would take more than a couple of cursory lessons to impart mastery. “Do you think you’ll be able to teach me everything I need to know by the end of the semester?”

“That depends on you, I guess,” Cara said distractedly, shouldering her backpack, “and how comfortable you are with what’s going on.”

Without knowing why, Kahlan felt as if she was somehow being judged. “What does that mean?”

“It just means you’ve got to figure out how far you’re willing to go.”

“And what does that mean?”

Cara let her backpack slip back down to the floor once again. “I don’t mean anything by it. I just mean that, unless you’re comfortable with more, pretty soon I’m just going to be telling you things, not showing you.”

At Kahlan’s reticent look, Cara sighed. “Unless you’re willing to touch me, and let me touch you, there’s only so far we can go.”

The sudden and complete blush that overtook Kahlan’s cheeks let Cara know that she’d finally gotten the drift.

“Oh. Already?” she asked, voice strained. “We just started.”

“Consider this an advanced class,” Cara said. “Unless I misinterpreted you and you’re not actually in a hurry to get Denna’s plaything back.

Kahlan swallowed, and Cara leaned down to reclaim her backpack. While there, she snuck in another full-body pet to Baron, who was rubbing himself against it sinuously.

“Take a couple of days to think about it, okay.”

“Yeah, okay,” Kahlan echoed weakly, not quite sure how she felt about the notion of moving even more quickly than they were already. Academic inquiry was one thing. Shoving people against walls in ways that were supposed to result in sexual arousal was something else entirely, she was beginning to think.

******

“I sat a six-top in your section,” Stacy, the hostess, said as Kahlan brushed past, a plate in each hand.

A six-top in her already full section – she took a moment to complain mentally before thinking about the possible tips.

“Welcome to the 10th Street Bar and Grill,” she said, focusing on freeing her notepad from her apron. “My name is Kahlan and I’ll be your server today. Have you dined with us before?”

When she looked up, she wasn’t sure who looked more surprised – Cara, Denna, or herself.

“You,” Denna said, before thinking better of finishing the sentence.

“Sorry,” Cara mouthed, wincing. Then, out loud, “Hey, Kahlan. I didn’t realize you’d be working tonight.”

While Denna whipped around to stare at Cara in confusion, Cara smiled up at her brightly. “This is Coach Reynolds, Coach Castle, Cassie, and…” She paused for a moment, trying to remember, “Kaila. I think you know Denna.”

Now everyone at the table was smiling brightly at her, minus Denna, clearly unaware that she was on the verge of panic. “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” she said, plastering on a bright smile of her own. “Let me get everyone water. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll help,” Cara said, rising quickly.

Once they were out of earshot, Kahlan muttered, “You can’t help, Cara. This is a restaurant, not a picnic in the backyard.”

“I didn’t know we were coming here,” Cara vowed, cutting to the heart of her agitation. “Coach wanted me to go to dinner with a couple of recruits. I thought we were going to Shorty’s. I wouldn’t ambush you like this.”

“Shorty’s closed.”

“Yeah, well I know that now. And I didn’t know Denna was coming until it was too late.”

“You have to go back to the table, Cara. This is starting to look weird.”

“I just wanted you to know.”

Kahlan cast a wary glance over to where her manager was wiping down a table. “We’ll talk about it later, okay.”

Cara had only been back at the table for a moment when Denna said sweetly, “I didn’t know you were friends with… what’s her name again? Kylie?”

Despite wanting to punch Denna on Kahlan’s behalf, Cara instead spent a moment studiously smoothing her napkin over her lap. She wasn’t sure why it was so important to her that Kahlan knew she hadn’t planned this, or that she do everything in her power to mitigate the situation, but Cara was damn well going to make this evening as painless for her tutor as possible. “Kahlan is helping me out with calculus. We’re in class together.”

“Oh, that’s right. Kahlan. I believe she went to high school with my boyfriend Richard. I seem to remember him mentioning that she was a bit of a cold fish. That’s the same thing as a bookworm, right?”

Cara smiled at Denna, the expression all teeth. “Well, she has taught me quite a lot.” Then, to Kaila, “Have I told you that Coach Reynolds is one of the best hitting coaches I’ve ever had?”

Although it was excruciating to have to smile and be polite with Denna sitting there smirking at her, Kahlan knew it would have been worse had her tablemates not been there to temper her. Still, she grated under each request, gritting her teeth as Denna sent her off on useless errands for things she didn’t even end up using. It was somewhat mollifying that each annoyance from Denna seemed only to deepen Cara’s look of absolute fury, but the presence of an unexpected white knight didn’t mean that she was free to ignore Denna’s demand that she be brought another glass of water with just a little less ice, if you don’t mind.

In the end, Denna was unable to leave without a last, parting jab. “I’ll make sure to tell Richard I ran into you. He doesn’t really keep up with his old classmates, but I’m sure he’ll be interested to hear what you’re up to these days.”

It helped only slightly that Cara’s look of fury jumped another notch to register in at white hot.

“Are we still on for tonight?” Cara asked softly as her party trickled their way to the door, her expression worried.

Kahlan nodded shortly. “I can’t stand her,” she whispered, needing to vent some of her anger. Her shoulders were tight with tension.

“Yeah,” Cara acknowledged. “Pitchers.”

******

Cara wasn’t even halfway to the point where she was ready to quit when Kahlan slammed her book shut.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” she said, her expression resolute. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I don’t care.”

“Maybe you should wait a day or two,” Cara cautioned. She knew, instinctively, to what Kahlan was referring, and she didn’t want her to make an emotional decision she later regretted; it was an uncharacteristically altruistic impulse, and she didn’t quite understand it. Cara wasn’t particularly fond of acting against her own self-interests. “Wait until you’re less angry.”

“I’m not angry. I’m determined.”

“Look, it’s not a hardship for me,” Cara said, shifting so that she was facing Kahlan. “You’re not hideous. That’s all I need. You say yes and I’ll show you everything I know. But, think about whether you really want that. Think about whether that’s really you, Kahlan.”

Kahlan stood and extended a hand down to Cara, expression hard as stone. “Come on. Let me show you what I’ve learned.”

There was being responsible and then there was being an idiot. Cara wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass as a result of the latter.

“Any time you change your mind, just say stop,” she said, accepting Kahlan’s grip.

Kahlan was undoubtedly a better student than she was, Cara decided, as Kahlan pulled her down the hallway and into her bedroom. Before she could reassert herself, Kahlan had put her hands on Cara’s hips and shoved, sending her flying onto the bed.

“You said it was versatile,” Kahlan reminded her as she climbed on to the bed to straddle Cara’s hips. Seconds later, Cara found herself with her wrists pinned to the bed above her head. She bucked her hips, but Kahlan simply moved with the motion. If this particular course of study had a report card, Cara thought, she would have given Kahlan a gold star.

“Now that you’ve got me here, what are you going to do with me?” she asked, her voice low. She would have acknowledged that she was enjoying the situation far more than was probably prudent had she been the kind of person to whom being prudent mattered.

Kahlan’s grin was surprisingly wolfish. “You tell me.”

Cara matched it. “Switch places and I’ll show you.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Kahlan loosened her grip and slid to the side. Cara took advantage of the opportunity to flip Kahlan on her back with a decisive move. She sat up, keeping her fingers twined with Kahlan’s, to tower over her.

“Everyone has their own style,” she said, gently rocking her hips. Kahlan was squirming underneath her, moving only just enough for Cara to feel it, and she didn’t even bother suppressing the smirk she knew was on her face. “Some people adjust their style to the situation. Some people adjust the situation to their style. You can be soft and teasing,” Cara said, leaning down to place soft kisses along Kahlan’s neck, “or you can be more direct.”

Kahlan gasped as Cara’s teeth dug into her skin, leaving behind a stinging bite.

“Or,” Cara continued, brushing her lips against Kahlan’s jaw, “you can be both. The important thing is that you take the lead, and that make your partner follow it.”

That they hadn’t yet really kissed occurred to Cara just as she solved that problem. She was surprised at the eagerness with which Kahlan’s lips parted under hers and at the way Kahlan strained up to meet her.

“Have you ever done this with a girl?” she asked, pulling away long enough to ask the question.

Kahlan licked her lips, and Cara almost lost her train of thought. “No,” Kahlan said, her voice a rasp.

Cara ignored the way that made her feel.

“I want to be on top,” Kahlan said, hips bucking up in an attempt to dislodge Cara. “I want to try.”

Even though she was quite content where she was, Cara acquiesced.

Kahlan was relieved to find that anger burned away all of the pesky doubts she’d been having before, like that it was maybe a bad idea to be doing this. All she had to do was call to mind the image of Denna’s self-satisfied expression, and any sort of compunction to reconsider the wisdom of her actions vanished.

“I want you to leave these here,” Kahlan said once she was once again straddling Cara’s hips. She’d pressed Cara’s wrists firmly into the mattress, and was looking at her with an expression that demanded obedience.

Cara didn’t even have time to nod her assent before Kahlan’s lips were on hers. Kahlan’s hands were in her hair, holding her still, and her kisses were teasing. She licked and bit; much to her surprise, Cara found herself wriggling desperately beneath Kahlan’s weight.

“Kahlan,” she said, not even bothering to be embarrassed by the need in her voice as she stretched up to try and deepen the kiss.

Kahlan smirked down at her, brought a hand to her sternum, and pressed her down into the bedding. “I think you’re supposed to be following my lead,” Kahlan said, leaning down to whisper the words against the curve of Cara’s ear. She nipped at the lobe, and the hand that was at Cara’s sternum slid down, flirted with the hem of her shirt, and slipped underneath. Kahlan left it there, though now that she’d discovered Cara’s ear, she lingered.

It didn’t take a genius to note that it was a particularly sensitive spot.

“That’s enough,” Cara said, the words barely audible. She didn’t do restraint. Hell, she didn’t have restraint, so she wasn’t entirely sure why she was the one slowing things down. She just knew that, improbably, it felt like the kind of thing she should probably do. “That’s enough for tonight.”

Kahlan paused, and pulled back far enough that she was able to look in Cara’s eyes.

Cara could see the question in them. “I think you’ve learned this lesson,” she said with a smile that intended to be confident, but landed at shaky instead. She tested Kahlan’s perch with a small movement, found her immovable, and closed her eyes. Any more friction and she would probably actually moan out loud.

Kahlan’s smile in reply was soft. “Okay,” she said, leaning down to give Cara one last, soft kiss.

Cara tried not to whimper.

The sound of a floorboard creaking caught them both completely by surprise, as did the female voice saying, “I’m not looking. I’m just going to bed.”

Kahlan shot bolt upright, and the woman trying to sneak past the opened door with a hand shading her eyes paused, caught.

“Dennee,” Kahlan said, her voice an octave higher than usual. “What are you doing home?”

To her credit, once she saw who was currently underneath her sister, Dennee tried to continue acting as if nothing special was happening. “I wasn’t feeling well,” she said. “It’s some sort of intestinal virus probably.” Then, in a voice that was only slightly strangled, “Who’s your friend?”

Even with as many times as she’d seen Kahlan blush, Cara didn’t think she’d ever seen one quite so all-encompassing. Climbing off of her gingerly, Kahlan slid off of the bed and offered Cara a hand. “Dennee, this is Cara. Cara, this is my sister Dennee.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cara mumbled, surprised to feel a blush spreading across her own cheeks. She smoothed her hair self-consciously, and straightened her shirt. “I should probably go now.”

“No, stay,” Dennee said, clearly trying valiantly to pretend that the situation wasn’t nearly as awkward as it was.

“I have to be up at 5:30,” Cara said by way of excuse. “We have a team run.”

“Cara plays softball,” Kahlan offered, before adding nervously, “I’m helping her with calculus.”

“I can see that,” Dennee said slowly. “I’m just going to…” she pointed, then disappeared with a wave. “It was nice to meet you, Cara.”

In the living room, Cara whispered fiercely, “You have a sister?”

Kahlan ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “She’s hardly ever here. She works a 12-hour night shift at Central Regional during the week and at a hospital in Orlando on the weekends. She’s saving up to go back to school to be an NP.” At Cara’s quizzical look, she clarified, “Nurse practitioner.”

“And now she thinks I’m debauching her sweet baby sister.”

Kahlan put her hand to her forehead. “If anything,” she said, “it probably looked like I was doing the debauching.”

Pulled back to the silver lining of the evening, Cara grinned. “You do learn quickly.”

Kahlan tried to stifle a laugh and failed.

******

As if it wasn’t bad enough that she was up before the sun, she also had to contend with Denna.

“So,” Denna said, voice sharp and cloyingly sweet, “why don’t you tell me all about how things are going with Kahlan?”

Cara increased her speed, disappointed when Denna matched her pace. “Go away.”

“Richard was quite surprised to hear about it,” Denna continued, though the words were more labored now as she struggled to try to continue to match Cara’s pace. “According to him, Kahlan never was one to consider anything even remotely outside the ordinary.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“No?” Cara could hear the malice in Denna’s voice. “So I just imagined you chasing off after her like a scared rabbit yesterday when you were worried that her fee-fees might be hurt?”

Cara’s glare would have devastated a lesser opponent.

“I can’t say that I see the appeal, personally,” Denna murmured, already veering off. “Then again, maybe I overestimated you.”

If there hadn’t been very real consequences, Cara would have taken a great deal of delight in making sure her fist erased the smirk on Denna’s face. Instead, she thought back to the night before, to the weight of Kahlan pressing her into the mattress and the teasing nip of her teeth, and her own smirk was entirely too satisfied. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, then kicked it into another gear, leaving Denna far behind.

******

“Denna isn’t happy,” Cara said around the lollipop in her mouth, collapsing onto Kahlan’s couch. Baron was beside her immediately, his head pressing into her palm.

Kahlan thought about making a scathing comment, yet another ‘why don’t you make yourself at home’, but it wasn’t as if Cara had noticed the other times she’d said it. It seemed doubtful that she’d start now. “What do you mean?”

“She’s rattled,” Cara said, switching the lollipop to the other side of her mouth. It had left the barest hint of red staining her bottom lip, and Kahlan tried not to stare. “She was trying to get dirt on you this morning on the run.” Cara paused long enough to pull the lollipop free with a pop. “Oh, yeah. She thinks we’re together.”

“She what?”

Cara shrugged, unconcerned, and brought the lollipop to her lips again. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s messed with her pre-defined notion of who she thinks you are.”

Kahlan scowled. “I don’t care what Denna thinks.”

“Sure you do. Unsettle her enough, and it’ll unsettle her relationship with Richard.” Cara was preparing to switch the lollipop yet again when Kahlan reached out, unceremoniously pulling it free of her mouth. Cara sat in stunned silence for a moment before a smile spread across her face. “Nice,” she said. “Very decisive. How are you going to follow it up?”

“I’m not playing, Cara.”

“This is progress. You need to build on it.”

“Cara…”

“You could suck on it,” Cara offered helpfully. “I think it’d be a nice touch.”

Kahlan stood, marched over to the kitchen, and threw away the lollipop.

“I wasn’t finished with that,” Cara pouted.

“I told you that I didn’t want them thinking that we were together. What did you say to her?”

Cara pulled Baron closer to her, wrapping an arm around his side. “I didn’t say anything,” she said, almost petulant. “She made assumptions based on what happened at dinner. You know, when we talked.”

“So the simple fact that you know me means that we’re together somehow?”

Cara shrugged one shoulder.

“And I’m sure you told her she was off-base.”

“I told her she didn’t know what she was talking about,” Cara said defensively, running her hand along Baron’s side. He stretched against her, and settled into her lap. Then, accusingly, “I thought you’d be happy about this.”

There was something about being angry with Cara that was decidedly unsatisfying, which only made Kahlan angrier. “I just don’t see how this is going to help in any way.”

“Are you kidding?” Cara tilted her head to the side. “You’re more of a threat now. Before, she thought she knew you. Now you’ve done something unexpected. You’ve done something, or at least she thinks you’ve done something, that she didn’t think you were capable of. She’s worried that maybe you’re making some kind of strategic move.”

Curious despite herself, Kahlan asked guardedly, “What move?”

“You’ve gone after someone on the softball team. You’ve gone after someone on her turf. It’s like throwing down a gauntlet.”

“That makes no sense at all.”

“It does to her. You’re crowding the plate.” The metaphor was clearly lost on Kahlan. Cara sighed. “Just trust me on this, okay?”

“And you have no other motivation?”

Cara blinked at her, clearly confused. “What other motivation would I have?”

Kahlan wasn’t sure if her confusion was infuriating or endearing. “Never mind.”

“Is your sister here today?”

“No. Why?”

“Because you’ve got the angry voice down. I was thinking we might work on your command voice.”

Her blush was sudden and furious. “I’d rather we study. You know we have a test in two weeks, don’t you?”

Cara waved her hand, as if brushing Kahlan’s concerns aside. “Yeah, sure. After we study. Do you mind?” she asked, look at her discarded backpack and then down at Baron. “He’s really comfortable.”

******

The way Cara was describing her command voice made it sound like it was supposed to have magical powers. It was supposed to intimidate. It was supposed to take charge of the situation. It was supposed to make others want to obey. It was supposed to bring about the fulfillment of her every wish and desire with desperate haste.

“I just don’t think I can pull it off,” she said doubtfully.

“Sure you can.” Cara licked her lips with a tongue still red from her lollipop. “I’m going to stand here, and you’re going to practice. Move around a little. You don’t have stand in front of me. Be unpredictable.”

From the way Cara said it, Kahlan wondered if she was expecting cartwheels.

“You’ll know when you’re doing it right because I’ll do what you say,” Cara explained. “The objective tonight is for you to get me to remove an article of clothing.”

“This is ridiculous.”

Cara ignored her. “It’s okay to be mean. It might actually help. Be mean. Be angry. Be nasty. You have to make me feel like I want to please you, because displeasing you is one of the most unpleasant things I could even contemplate.”

“I just don’t see me being able to pull it off,” Kahlan said doubtfully, “and I don’t want to be mean to you.”

“Then be intimidating. You’re tall. Use that. It’s like you’re always saying to me, you have to build on each thing you learn. Use what you learned earlier to help you figure out what comes later.”

“This is in no way similar to calculus.”

Not sure why Kahlan was being particularly uncooperative, Cara glared at her. “We’ve gone over enough of the basics for you to be able to figure this out.”

“Fine,” Kahlan snapped. “Remove an article of clothing.”

“You can’t honestly be serious.”

“Was that not commanding enough for you?”

Cara was slowly coming to the conclusion that Kahlan was seriously, legitimately stymied by this particular assignment. She’d thought that it might be a good time to see if Kahlan was able to take the initiative without her lead, but apparently, it wasn’t.

She sighed. “Let’s switch places.”

Kahlan’s expression turned belligerent. “I’m not taking off my clothes.”

Cara cocked her head to the side. Her eyes went cold and a change seemed to slide over her, bringing with it an edge of menace. “You will,” she said, assured. She stepped close to Kahlan, reaching up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You’ve always been a good girl, haven’t you?” she asked, though it was clear she wasn’t interested in an answer. She moved slowly and with purpose, circling Kahlan like a hawk with its prey. “Top of your class. Teacher’s pet. You had a perfect small-town high school relationship with a perfect small-town high school boy. You held hands and watched movies, and it was just like the fairy tales had told you it would be. And then one day you weren’t enough, and your perfect boyfriend moved on to someone who could give him what he needed. He got tired of chaste kisses and fumbling around in the backseat of cars. You just weren’t interesting enough anymore.”

Cara stopped behind Kahlan, her hands coming to rest on Kahlan’s hips. “He thought you were boring.”

“No,” Kahlan said, blinking back sudden and unexpected tears. “Stop it.”

“He was wrong,” Cara said, the words a low whisper that sent a chill up Kahlan’s spine. “Some people think they deserve to have the things they want without working for them. He’s like that. He wants the comfort of never having to make a decision for himself. It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? Bending to someone else’s every whim. But you’re not like that, are you?” Cara moved in front of Kahlan, a hand at the back of her head forcing her gaze down so that they were eye-to-eye. They were close, almost touching. “You know it takes more than mindless obedience to hold someone’s interest. You fight for what you want.”

She did, Kahlan wanted to agree.

“You have to want something in here,” Cara said, her hand slipping down until her palm was pressed flat over Kahlan’s heart. “If you’re going to give yourself over to someone, it’s going to be because they’ve earned it.”

Kahlan nodded her head jerkily, breath coming increasingly fast.

Cara smiled knowingly. “I’m willing to work very, very hard.”

“I don’t see,” Kahlan said, having to pause to smooth out the quaver in her voice, “how this has anything to do with what you were trying to teach me.”

“You’ve gotten used to everything having one right answer,” Cara said, the hand over Kahlan’s heart drifting up to the back of her neck. She scratched lightly, and Kahlan shivered. “When it comes to this, there isn’t. Even now, if I told you to do something, you’d resist. That doesn’t mean,” she said, taking hold of the hem of Kahlan’s shirt and slowly inching it upward, “you don’t want it.”

Cara’s hands were on her sides, ever so slowly easing the shirt up. “Go ahead,” she said, letting her nails brush against skin. Kahlan swallowed hard in response; she was surprised to find she’d already taken the hem of her shirt in her hands, was already drawing it over her head. “Some people,” Cara was saying, hands hot against Kahlan’s back, “just need permission.”

Kahlan leaned down, unable to keep her eyes off of those candy red lips, but Cara was already turning away.

“You want to try again?” Cara asked over her shoulder, the mood snapping, leaving behind sudden, painful clarity.

“Maybe next time,” she said hoarsely, throat dry.

******

“So it’s the bottom of the seventh,” Cara said, and Kahlan wondered how they’d even gotten into this conversation to begin with. Then again, it wasn’t a conversation, really, since Cara was the only one doing the talking. “We’ve got two outs, and the number nine hitter gets up and goes oppo with a double. None one’s expecting it. I mean, she’s batting 190 on the season, right? So I’m up next, and Coach tells me to swing away. I take the first pitch low, but the next is this fat fastball right over the plate. I can tell as soon as I connect that it’s gone. And I mean gone,” she said, nodding meaningfully. “It put a dent in the bumper of some guy’s car. It’s the last game of the regionals, and I hit a walk-off.”

“That sounds really exciting,” Kahlan said, though her tone didn’t quite match the words.

“So now you tell me a story,” Cara said, enough heat in her tone to let Kahlan know she had expected more. “That’s how this works. I talk to you about something then you talk to me about something. So let me hear it. Tell me all about the time you saved the math-a-lete finals or whatever.”

“I never did that.”

“You got all of the girl scout merit badges before anyone else?”

“I wasn’t in girl scouts.”

“You were editor of the yearbook?” A pause. “Drum major?” A longer pause. “President of the Spanish club?”

“I worked,” Kahlan said shortly, turning to the front of the classroom as the instructor appeared.

Ninety minutes later, Cara laid a hand on her forearm. “I didn’t mean anything by it,” she said sulkily. “I just thought that maybe we could get to know one another better.”

Kahlan’s lip curled. “I think we know one another well enough.”

“Not like that. I thought we could be friends.”

Kahlan looked at Cara incredulously. “Friends? Do you really think that’s such a good idea?”

“I don’t see why not. Look, just because we’re helping each other out doesn’t mean that it has to be all business. You’re one of the only people I know here.”

“What about your teammates?”

Cara shrugged. “Yeah, some of them are okay, but it’s different. It’s nice to know people with interests other than softball.”

“Why, if that’s all you know how to talk about?” Kahlan regretted the words as soon as she said them. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

But Cara was already packing up her things, shoulders stiff. “No, you’re right. I’m a dumb jock. It’s why I’m here, right? Working with you to make sure I don’t flunk out.” She straightened and turned to face Kahlan, expression blank. “What could we possibly have in common?”

Kahlan tried again. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I’m busy this weekend. Let me know when you’re free next week.”

Before Kahlan could think of a better way to apologize, Cara was gone.

******

Cara dropped the free weights in the rack and rolled her shoulders. Like she cared what Kahlan thought. It’d been stupid, anyway, thinking they could maybe be friends. It was better if they weren’t, so that they could keep things clean and simple. Kahlan tutored her in calculus and she tried to turn Kahlan into someone who could lure back Denna’s pathetic, mewling puppy dog. If Kahlan was the kind of girl who would take him back after what he’d done, she didn’t want to be friends with her anyway.

What she needed was to let off some steam, but Podunk-ville didn’t exactly allow for many opportunities to do that – especially not if she wanted to stay away from drama, which she did. Tiny little colonies of available females constantly moving from one to another led to the shark-infested kind of dating pool that was bound to cause her problems.

She wiped angrily at the sweat running from her forehead and stinging her eyes, thoughts returning to Kahlan. So what if she wasn’t great at calculus? So what if Kahlan thought she was boring? She could have tried, at least. It didn’t require a Herculean effort to not be an asshole.

Her eyes cut over to the heavy bag hanging lonely in the corner. It would do.

******

Cara was back in her usual seat, tucked away in the corner of the classroom. She was back to her usual scowl, too, arms crossed across her chest. She looked like the center of a blast zone, with all of the seats around her deliberately empty, and Kahlan gave a defeated sigh and began winding her way through the tables to the one Cara had occupied.

“I brought you a coffee,” she said hesitantly, sliding into the seat next to Cara.

She received no reply.

“It’s black,” she continued, gently pushing the cup over so that it was situated squarely in front of Cara.

Again she was ignored.

Her hand came to rest on Cara’s bicep and stayed there even when Cara made to pull away. “I’m sorry,” she said; she’d felt absolutely awful after their confrontation of the other day, in a way she couldn’t seem to shake. “You didn’t do anything wrong, and I shouldn’t have said what I did. I don’t…” she paused, not wanting to repeat the words Cara had used, “I don’t think of you like that. I don’t think that’s what you are.”

Cara gave her a withering look.

“I don’t,” Kahlan protested. She wasn’t good at this kind of thing. She didn’t have practice with it. Then again, there wasn’t much about Cara she really thought she was prepared for anyway. “Come on,” she said, leaning closer and smiling winsomely, vaguely aware that she was dancing on the edge of flirtatious. “Forgive me? Please? You can’t stay mad at me forever. It’s going to be hard to tutor you in calculus if you’re not speaking to me.”

The tension in the muscle under her palm eased slightly, and Kahlan felt an inordinate sense of relief.

Before she saw Cara take a casual sip of coffee, Kahlan never would have believed that such a simple motion could so definitively infer acceptance of an apology. She actually felt herself smiling, and had to tamp down the feeling that she’d achieved something important.

After class, after 90 minutes of frantically taking detailed notes, Kahlan was surprised again when, in the midst of stuffing her things into her backpack and not even bothering to look up, Cara said off-handedly, “We have a test next week, right? I should probably come over tonight to study.”

Kahlan’s smile returned. “Yeah. You should.” The idea formed, and before she had time to vet it, she added, “I’ll cook dinner.”

Cara studied her for a moment, then shrugged. “Okay. Sounds good.” She glanced down at the now empty coffee cup in her hand before tacking on a soft, “Thanks.”

******

At the knock, Kahlan opened the door to find Cara standing on the other side of it, oddly tense.

“I brought a pie,” Cara said, shoving said pie into Kahlan’s hands and then shoving her hands into her pockets with equal vigor. “It’s key lime.”

She was inside before Kahlan had a chance to reply.

It had occurred to Kahlan, as she was stressing over what to cook for the dinner she’d spontaneously offered, that she was perhaps blurring the line between business arrangement and something else entirely.

“Did you know that shrimp swim backwards?”

Kahlan blinked, caught off guard by the shift in conversation. “Uh, no. I didn’t know that.”

“It’s not really swimming,” Cara continued, eyes scanning the apartment. “They don’t have fins. Where’s Baron?”

Unsure if Cara was simply unaware of any potential tension or if she was aware of it and had chosen to ignore it, Kahlan decided she would do well to take a page from Cara’s playbook. She’d act as if nothing strange was happening because nothing strange was happening. It made sense that they were becoming friends. They’d spent a significant amount of time together in the past weeks and, as different as they were, Kahlan generally enjoyed Cara’s company. Friends had dinner together all of the time, so even though they’d had a fight and Kahlan had somehow decided to make up for it through cajoling and an offer to cook, this was, in fact, no different from what friends usually did together.

“He’s pouting,” she said, putting the pie down on the kitchen counter. “He’s temperamental like that.”

“He’ll come around,” Cara said confidently. “He loves me.”

Kahlan and Dennee didn’t have a dining table, so they ate at the coffee table, sitting side by side on the floor. “This is good,” Cara said, holding up a forkful of roasted vegetables. “You’re a good cook.”

Despite herself, Kahlan blushed. Baked chicken, roasted vegetables, and a side salad were hardly haute cuisine. “How long have you been playing softball?” she asked, trying to divert Cara’s attention.

Cara looked at her warily for a moment before deciding that Kahlan appeared to actually want to know the answer to her question.

“I started in tee ball when I was four.” Cara gave Kahlan a hesitant smile and shrugged. “I guess I’ve played pretty much all of my life. It’s the only thing that never changes.”

It felt like an opening Kahlan might want explore, but her next question was cut short when Cara’s smile stretched from hesitant to dazzling.

“There he is,” she said, reaching out to rub the head of the newly reappeared Baron. “What’s up, buddy?”

Kahlan was beginning to wonder if her cat was interfering on purpose. Then she wondered just what she thought he was interfering with.

Later, with empty dishes cleared and slices of Cara’s store bought pie consumed, Kahlan reminded herself there was a reason for this visit and it wasn’t solely socialization.

“Time to study.” She didn’t have to see Cara’s pout to know it was there. “You have to make a C on this test if you want to have any chance of making a C in the class.” The grading formula was going to help – the lowest scoring exam would be worth 20%, the highest two worth 40% – but the 55 Cara had confessed to making on the first exam left little room for error.

Much to her surprise, Cara didn’t protest. Instead, she listened carefully, wrote things down, and even asked a couple of questions. It was positively disconcerting.

“Are you actually taking this seriously?” Kahlan asked, trying not to notice that she was noticing the slight variation between what appeared to be Cara’s I’m-thinking-intently scowl and her usual, everyday-wear scowl.

“Why would I bother to do this if I wasn’t taking it seriously?”

It was a fair point, Kahlan acknowledged, even if there were clear signs that Cara had started paying attention to what she was saying in a way that made it seem as if she actually wanted to learn instead of paying attention in a way that indicated she was doing so under duress.

She was even more surprised when, after it became clear that they had exhausted Cara’s ability to study for the evening, Cara pulled out a carefully handwritten note and grudgingly handed it over.

“I know you like lists and syllabuses and plans and things like that, so I made a list of some of the things you might want to learn. It’s all pretty 101-level, but we should probably cover these things before moving on to anything more advanced.”

Cara’s handwriting was small and even, bold with a slightly forward slant, print instead of cursive. It was as straight-forward as Cara herself seemed to be, and Kahlan had to swallow hard, her mouth having suddenly gone dry, as she read her way down the list.

1) How to talk dirty  
2) Spanking  
3) Other kinds of slapping  
4) When to use your fingernails  
5) When to use your teeth  
6) How to position him for certain kinds of sex  
7) Denial  
8) Tying him up, intro level  
9) Making him tell you his fantasies  
10) Dressing the part  
11) An introduction to toys

“Where we go from there is going to depend on just how much of a sub he is,” Cara continued, “and what kind of sub he is. I guess you’ll have to think about what kind of hints he may have given off that you didn’t pick up on before.”

Kahlan put the list down and carefully smoothed her hand over it. She was absolutely not ready for any of the things on it.

“We don’t have to go in order,” Cara said, pulling the list closer so that she could look over it again. Her brow furrowed as she ran her finger down the lines. “You can add things to it, too. Not everything is about him. If you think of something you think you’d like, we can practice it. I didn’t get really specific with this.”

If that was the case, Kahlan wasn’t sure she wanted to know what Cara would consider specific.

Cara paused to look at her expectantly. “Where do you want to start? Do you want to finish up what we were working on last time?”

“Last time?” Kahlan was finding it difficult to concentrate. Every time she looked down at the list, her heart started to beat even faster.

“You were supposed to make me take off an article of clothing.”

Kahlan blushed, remembering how that had turned out. “I don’t think I’m good with words.”

The way Cara hesitated before shaking her head showed a level of diplomacy Kahlan hadn’t realized she possessed.

“Figure out another way,” Cara said, standing. She held her hand out to Kahlan, and pulled her up to her feet as well. “Come on.”

Cara watched as Kahlan seemed to steel herself and felt oddly proud of her.

“Let’s go to my room,” Kahlan muttered, unconsciously reaching out for Cara’s hand to pull her along. She wasn’t sure why it felt safer to try this there, in space that was decidedly hers. In her room, with the door closed, she could pretend that they existed separately from the rest of the world. Or, at least she hoped she could.

If Cara had been anyone else, if she’d been less patient or taken this more seriously, Kahlan was certain that she wouldn’t have had the courage to try. But, Cara simply watched her curiously, without a hint of judgment in her eyes, as if this was somehow a normal thing to be doing.

Kahlan closed her eyes and ran through the things she’d been taught – invisible string, scowl, use her height. When she opened them, Cara was still waiting as calmly as before, oddly, almost preternaturally, still. Still not quite sure where she wanted to begin, Kahlan took a step forward, bringing herself within arms’ length of Cara. She tried to think about what she thought Cara might do were their positions reversed, but she wasn’t Cara. Cara was cocky. She assumed she knew the right way to go about things because it would probably never occur to her that there was any better way than the one she’d chosen. Kahlan tried to think about what she might be, to find the trait that best defined her. She’d never be cocky. She might not ever be confident.

In truth, the only thing she could confidently lay claim to was being inquisitive. If that was the case, she was going to have to find some way to use it.

She reached out slowly, her fingers just tracing the curve of Cara’s cheek. She drew them over Cara’s lips, caught off-guard, as always, by how full they were. Cara’s lips were the one thing that always seemed to skew her perception. With her glares and scowls, with the way she cut through life as if always on the fastest track to the next destination, Cara didn’t give the perception that she’d allow anything as self-indulgent as that kind of softness. Though, if Kahlan stopped to think about it, Cara was a study in contradictions. Her lashes were long, her eyebrows delicately arched. Her ears were small and neat, her hair artfully wispy where it escaped her usual ponytail, and the line of her neck surprisingly graceful. On anyone else, the combination would have called to mind descriptions of delicate feminine beauty, but Cara wasn’t delicate. She was half a head shorter than Kahlan and more than twice as imposing.

Kahlan let her hand drift to the nape of Cara’s neck. She moved slowly, winding Cara’s short ponytail around her fist and then pulling hard, forcing Cara’s eyes up to meet her own. Cara’s expression was defiant, but Kahlan wouldn’t allow herself to back down. Instead she leaned down slowly, changed course at the last moment, and bit down hard on Cara’s earlobe.

She wondered if Cara would have considered the move an appropriate use of teeth. From the way Cara had gasped, she had to think it had met with approval.

It was easier to step in behind Cara, to be out of the line of sight. She could explore without having to worry about how she looked, could bury her face against the curve of Cara’s neck, close her eyes, and let impulse rule. She could lick and suck at smooth skin – all in the name of exploration, of course – and run her hands across the flat plane of Cara’s abdomen. When her hands moved higher, when they eased up to cup full breasts and she realized that what she was feeling was the hard press of Cara’s nipples against her palms, she could bury her surprise in a sharp inhale of breath smothered against skin.

Cara’s breasts were larger than her own, fuller and heavier. As inexperienced as Kahlan might otherwise be, she knew what she liked and she moved instinctively, trapping Cara’s nipples between the sides of her thumbs and forefingers and rolling them hard. From the way Cara pressed back against her, she could only assume that Cara was as surprised that Kahlan had done that as Kahlan herself was, but she was too pleased with herself to stop. When Cara tried to turn toward her, Kahlan tightened her grip, stepped closer, and forced Cara back into position.

She was almost positively sure she’d heard Cara whimper in response.

“Wouldn’t you like to feel this against your skin?” Kahlan asked, surprised by the low, husky tone of her voice; surprised, in fact, that she’d spoken at all. “With nothing in the way?”

From the way Cara hesitated, Kahlan could imagine her internal debate – her desire to give in versus her desire to hold out.

In the end, it took little more than the hint of a threat to force Cara’s compliance. Kahlan moved to step away, her grip on Cara’s breasts loosening, and Cara’s shirt was whipped off and discarded in the blink of an eye.

Unable to help herself, Kahlan leaned close, lips by Cara’s ear, and said softly, “I guess I win.”

******

When Cara suggested, uncharacteristically shyly, that they stick to studying calculus until after the exam, Kahlan was almost relieved. After completing her last assignment with what she considered to be flying colors, she’d watched as Cara shakily retrieved her shirt, pulled it on quickly and carelessly, and left her apartment with barely a backwards glance. She’d tried to tell herself she was unaffected, that it was all part of the game, but it was hard to pretend like she wasn’t treading on dangerous ground when she waited all of two minutes after the door closed behind Cara to retreat to her bedroom, shuck her pants, and get herself off with an efficiency she’d never managed before.

They spent their next week of study sessions at the campus coffee shop.

She didn’t see Cara after the exam, didn’t even sit by her during the exam at Cara’s insistence. Cara ensconced herself in the corner again, and every time Kahlan risked a glance back at her, she was hunched over her test booklet with a look of fierce concentration that was oddly adorable. Between that and their next class, Kahlan worked a set of full shifts, so the next time they saw one another, Cara was beaming down at her recently returned exam.

“Seventy-two,” she said smugly.

Kahlan looked down at her own score and frowned.

“What?” Cara asked, leaning over to see. When she did, she sat back with a sigh and an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “Oh, only a 95?”

When Kahlan’s melancholy still hadn’t disappeared after a class released early, Cara pulled her back into her seat when she stood to leave. “We’re going to celebrate,” Cara said, as if it was a given. “Some of the girls on the team are throwing a party. We’ll go.”

Kahlan gave her a look that was distinctly unimpressed.

“What? It’ll be fun.”

“I can’t really think of anything I’d rather do less than go to a softball team party.”

Cara was in too good of a mood to let Kahlan’s refusal bring her down. “Fine. You pick.”

“I don’t really feel like celebrating.”

“Because you missed two questions?”

Kahlan shrugged noncommittally.

Cara barely refrained from rolling her eyes again. “I want to celebrate, so if you can’t come up with anything better, I’ll be over to pick you up at 8:00.”

“Cara…”

Cara didn’t look at all inclined to budge.

“Fine,” Kahlan said, looking down at her lap. “But maybe we could… There’s this movie thing at the drive-in, and I know you’re going to think it’s really dorky, but I’ve been wanting to go…”

“We’ll do that, then,” Cara said, not sure she had enough patience to wait until Kahlan managed to string her thoughts together. “What time?”

“Seven?”

“I’ll pick you up.”

******

Kahlan was surprised when Cara pulled up in an old Jeep Cherokee. She wasn’t sure why she’d thought Cara would drive something fast and sleek, but the more she thought about it, the more the vehicle seemed to fit. Actually, as often as Cara had been over to her apartment, she was surprised she hadn’t already known what she drove.

“So, what movie are we going to see?”

Kahlan looked over at her excitedly, her shyness of earlier gone in the face of her anticipation. “It’s an Evil Dead marathon.”

Cara glanced over at her, expression blank.

“What’s that?”

“What’s that?” Kahlan repeated, aghast. “Cara, have you honestly never seen The Evil Dead?”

She could tell by Cara’s unimpressed expression that she didn’t consider that to be quite the travesty Kahlan did.

Later, parked with the rear of the Cherokee facing the screen and with the back hatch raised, both sitting with their legs dangling over the back bumper, Kahlan said, “You’re going to love this. The main character gets his hand cut off and replaces it with a chainsaw.”

Cara looked over, alarmed, but Kahlan’s attention was fixated on the screen.

Nearly 90-minutes of ridiculousness, pandemonium, gore, and sentient trees followed, leaving Cara vaguely shell-shocked. At some point, she crawled further into the rear space of the Cherokee, wrapped herself in a blanket, and opened the bottle of emergency Jack and Coke she’d brought with her.

“You like these movies?” she asked Kahlan as the screen went dark.

“Everybody likes these movies,” Kahlan replied, as if it was self-evident. “The next one is even better.”

As the people onscreen looked prepared to mostly replicate the shenanigans of the movie they’d just finished watching, Kahlan eased back to join Cara, pulling the blanket around her shoulders. There was a hint of mid-October chill in the air, just enough to necessitate a little additional warmth, and Cara was happy to share.

“Want some?” she asked, offering Kahlan her Jack and Coke.

Kahlan took a sip and nearly choked. “Is there alcohol in this?” she asked, eyes wide.

Cara shrugged. “Just a little.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Kahlan took another careful sip, then another. “It’s not awful,” she allowed.

By the time the promised chainsaw hand materialized, Kahlan was leaning back against Cara, snug in the vee of her thighs, with the blanket wrapped tightly around them both. Her head was resting against Cara’s shoulder and she was smiling broadly, giggling as blood spattered everywhere. Cara had given up on the movie and was watching Kahlan instead, following the way the shadows from onscreen danced across her face.

“You can do better than Richard,” she said without meaning to, the alcohol loosening her tongue. “You’re so pretty.”

Kahlan looked over at her, smile faltering only slightly. “You think so?”

Cara nodded. “Yeah. And you’re kind of nerdy hot. It’s its own legitimate sub-genre of hot these days. You should work it harder.”

“I’m not hot,” Kahlan said, sliding around so that she was facing Cara. “You’re hot. I’m just…”

“You’re gorgeous, and smart, and nice,” Cara said solemnly, vaguely aware that she was going to regret this moment later. She did not, as a rule, admit to anything that was actually true unless forced. “If you weren’t straight, I’d…”

And then she was kissing Kahlan, the rest of her thought forgotten, and Kahlan was kissing her back; this time there was no alternative motivation, no lesson to be imparted. She was kissing Kahlan because she wanted to kiss her, no matter how bad of an idea it was likely to be, even if Cara was fairly certain that Kahlan was bound to come to her senses at any moment.

“I don’t think I’m totally straight,” Kahlan confessed against Cara’s neck, the words choppy as she used her teeth and tongue to great advantage. “I mean, I thought so before, but…”

Cara supposed Kahlan really didn’t need to finish that sentence for her meaning to be clear, not when her hand was under Cara’s shirt and sliding up to cup her breast.

Credits were rolling before Cara realized they should probably find a more discreet location than the back of her Cherokee at a drive-in movie theater if they were going to continue with the making out. It seemed likely that they were – Kahlan’s hands were down the back of her shorts and she was pretty sure she was going to have a magnificent hickey come morning. She didn’t know if this meant anything or if it was one of those moments that managed to get out of hand, but she was determined to capitalize on it. Tomorrow, for all she knew, Kahlan might have changed her mind about not being totally straight.

“Why don’t we go back to your place?” she asked, fingers digging into Kahlan’s lower back.

Kahlan pulled away and looked up at Cara with a blank expression for a terrifyingly long moment. Then she smiled, leaned up to kiss her quickly, and shook her head no. “We can’t leave yet,” she said, sliding her hands out of Cara’s shorts. “They go back to the Dark Ages in this one.”

******

Cara knocked on Kahlan’s door with trepidation. They’d parted the night before with a kiss and shy smiles, but this was the cold light of day. Kahlan wouldn’t be tipsy and she wouldn’t be too otherwise occupied to think about what she was doing, and Cara didn’t know where that left things.

“Hey,” Kahlan said, surprised when, for once, Cara didn’t stroll past her and into the apartment as if she owned it. “Are you going to come in?”

Cara ducked her head and eased past Kahlan to stand awkwardly just inside the door. She looked so uncomfortable that even Baron took one look at her stiff stance and reversed course.

Kahlan’s heart began to race anxiously. She hadn’t been able to think about anything other than an unexpected desire to see if there was something between them when it wasn’t about anything else, but from the way Cara couldn’t seem to meet her eyes, she was beginning to think she was alone in that.

“Cara, are you… Do you regret what happened last night?”

Cara’s head snapped up and she took a quick step forward. “No,” she said, a hint of panic in her voice she didn’t even try to hide. “I thought maybe you did.”

Relief washed over Kahlan as she closed the gap between them impulsively, hands in Cara’s hair as she kissed her.

Once the kiss gentled, she pulled away and smiled down at Cara. Slowly, carefully, she put her hands on Cara’s shoulders and gave her a firm shove, sending her stumbling back into the door. “Good,” she said, stepping close to pin Cara in place, insinuating her thigh between Cara’s legs. Her arm snaked around Cara’s waist, pulling their hips together with a strong, sharp jerk, her smile edging into a smirk as Cara gasped. “We still haven’t made it to most of the things on your list.”

Cara’s answering smile was devilish. Her hands slid under the hem of Kahlan’s shirt, up smooth skin and to the clasp of her bra. “Your sister isn’t going to be back any time soon, is she?”

Kahlan pulled Cara’s hair free from its ponytail, slid her hand into it, and pulled hard. This time, Cara’s whimper was indisputable. She shook her head slowly, eyes never leaving Cara’s. “I’m interested in learning more about item 6,” she said, leaning in to nip at Cara’s full lower lip, feeling emboldened by the way Cara was looking at her with clear affection. “What are your own, personal preferences regarding positioning?”

“I have several favorites,” Cara said, expertly unhooking Kahlan’s bra, a sense of elation rushing through her. “Would you like me to demonstrate?”

Kahlan leaned down to kiss her softly. “I do seem to learn best by example.”

******

Kahlan pulled the sleeves of her long-sleeved black and crimson TROJANS SOFTBALL tee-shirt over her hands, wishing she’d worn a jacket. She wasn’t used to sitting on metal bleachers in mid-February; next time, she was bringing a blanket.

“Kahlan?”

She looked up, startled, at the sound of Richard’s voice. She’d given him a little wave when she’d arrived, carefully chosen a seat on the far end of the bleachers, and had somehow expected that to be that; there he was, though, settling down next to her and looking at her in confusion.

“Hi, Richard.”

He shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting between her and the field. “What are you doing here?”

She wondered, briefly, if he thought he had something to do with it. Once upon a time, he would have.

Not any longer.

“You see that hot piece of ass out in left field?” she asked, unable to stifle a grin as Cara trotted out onto the field in her deliciously tight uniform pants. She turned to him, smile widening. “That’s my girlfriend.”

**Author's Note:**

> In case you were worried, Cara made a C in Intro to Calculus and joined the Gators the next season. Kahlan joined her; she can't resist Cara in eye black and tight uniform pants, and has no desire to learn how to. Cara never quite learned to appreciate the Evil Dead series, but Kahlan decided she could love her anyway. As far as they know, Denna and Richard are still together.
> 
> They've managed to make a few additions to Cara's list.


End file.
